KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Charges against a woman accused of kicking a Knoxville Police officer after a traffic stop in August 2021 have been dismissed after the arresting officer was indicted in April.
Charges against the arresting KPD officer Joseph Charles Roberts, who has since resigned after pleading guilty to lying about a different pursuit in January, were brought forward in an April indictment.
In August 2021, Roberts arrested Trinity Divine Clark during a traffic stop following an alleged high-speed pursuit.
Clark was physically wrestled to the ground and charged with assault on a first responder, evading arrest, failure to yield/right of way, resisting arrest and simple possession. The charges were later dismissed by a judge during a preliminary hearing in Knox County court.
Roberts has since been charged, but not for the incident involving Clark.
A criminal indictment dated April 14 states Roberts was charged with tampering with governmental records in a different traffic pursuit in January 2022. Roberts resigned from KPD earlier this year. He had been on administrative leave and under internal investigation since January.
A sentencing hearing for Roberts on that indictment is scheduled for June 29.
“It is imperative that citizens are able to trust law enforcement,” Charme Allen, Knox County District Attorney General, said back in April regarding the charge against Roberts in the January pursuit. “By repeatedly being dishonest when questioned by his supervising officers and by falsifying his sworn statements, this officer broke the law, damaged that trust, and showed that he was unfit to serve as an officer of the law.”